Futomaki
by Josef Mojave
Summary: Mid story, I always thought this would be fun. When she is first coming over to learn how to make sushi whith Hyuga Sama


Hayato Hyuga sat staring out the cooking classroom window long after they had finished cleaning. He couldn't believe that the Sushi Dokoro Hyuga was the one that had fueled Hanayu Ashitaba's dreams of becoming a sushi chef. It made him almost giddily proud that he had kept his promise to find the right tamago recipe and of his father. He loved the idea that he could make something that she would love so much but it also made him feel strange inside. Everything had spiraled out of control, his dream to become a baker and then meeting her, the daughter of a baker and heir to a prestigious bakery it was like his dream had dropped into his lap. The way she stared at him made him even surer that she was the way he would become a baker and so he had asked her out, the "bakery girl".

What surprised him the most was how much he had enjoyed lying to her and being her boyfriend, well not the lying so much as spending time together and gaining her approval, not just as the daughter of a baker but the way she looked at and appreciated him when he taught her and was sweet to her. It made him feel so guilty when he saw the warmth in her eyes that the revelation that she had only agreed to date him because she had wanted to marry into his family was a relief. It was almost a relief. He had wanted to kiss her then, right before she became so fixated on the carp in the river and revealed herself. She had looked so cute for him in that skirt, fussing over his scratches and even taking his hand, he felt like she was his girlfriend for real, and not just a tool to get at his dream but as soon as she asked "Do you think girls shouldn't handle fish" his heart sank. He dumped her in the meanest way he could think of revealing his own deception and storming off.

"Useless" he had said. Now useless was how he felt. He and Hanayu had reconciled, but only as friends. And in his fervor to redeem him self he had promised to never tie her up in his dream again, but he didn't mean it. He didn't want to mean it because that would mean that he couldn't date her even if he wanted to because of her shop and her family. It would be too hard not to ask, to want to learn her family trade and worm her way into her family for all the wrong reasons even if he might some day have wanted to for the right ones.

The idea that she was considering giving up on her dream, a dream that was the mirror of his own made his heart hurt. He had to admire the sweetness of her determination to protect her little brother Natsume's dreams of being a pro baseball player, but he didn't want her to lose something so deep in her heart. He knew exactly how it felt to be trapped doing something other than follow his dreams, even as he declared he would become an amazing pastry chef the fact loomed that there was no one to take over for his father in his absence, no one trained and the longer he waited to tell his father the less time there would be for anyone to be trained in his place. Hayato ran his fingers through his shaggy blond hair as the sky turned pink outside.

"Hayato…" a soft voice said from the doorway. He turned and saw her, the object of his desire… desire? The thought had never fully formed in his mind, but there she was with that same bright smile he had noticed by the river. Even after he had made it clear that she would never become a sushi chef through him she was still so warm. She had been the one to make him be friends with her after he thought they couldn't speak anymore and she had cried when it was over, he had seen it in her eyes. "What are you still doing here? Is something wrong?" she said with a little frown.

"What?" He asked pulling himself back to reality. "Oh, yeah… did you wait for me?" he asked in a teasing voice and felt his heart jump a tiny bit when he realized that she had.

"…no I just had a question to ask Matsuzaka Sensei, that's all… but since you're still here do you want to…"

"What?"

"Nothing…" Hanayu said fiddling with one of her earrings awkwardly. "I'm heading home, see you tomorrow." She said with a little bow.

"Hey wait," Hayato said jumping up and racing after her. "I should be heading home too, so we might as well go together right?" he said with a little grin.

"Yeah, okay," she said her cheeks brightening as she smiled back at him. They hadn't said much since she had found out that his father was the one who had inspired her dreams. He could imagine that she might feel a bit sore at him for not wanting to take over the shop because if he had she really could have married into his family and been able to learn how to make the same food that inspired her so. He almost felt guilty for his dream, for letting her down as well as his family. He didn't know what to say, even his regular jokes didn't seem appropriate; he was struck dumb with silence.

"Hayato…" she said breaking the long silence between them.

"Yeah?"

"Um… tomorrow my dad is going to close the shop early because Natsume has a parent teacher conference…" she said playing with her hands shyly.

"Oh... so do you want to do something with Ichii and Matsuyama? We could all go do Karaoke or something…?" he said awkwardly. He didn't really want to go play, he had felt so weird around her lately because of his guilt and because of her sadness and even because of all the jokes she had made about him marrying into her family. He knew she didn't mean it, but part of him wanted to pounce at the opportunity. He would have his dream of a real bakery and he could have her too. The thought of wanting both made his stomach tingle. Karaoke, he couldn't even imagine Ichii at karaoke, the thought was terrifying, and she was crazy enough as it is.

"I can't imagine Matsuyama doing karaoke, he's so quiet, and it would almost be a waste for him to pay to get in." She said with a chuckle.

"Ha-ha, don't be too hard on him Matsuyama is a cool guy," he said staring down the street at the river and letting out a small sigh.

"Well… anyways, you've seemed down lately… and since my dad won't be home to freak out I thought maybe you could come over and I could teach you how to make some of our cakes…?" Hanayu asked tentatively. Hayato blushed at the suggestion, she wanted to give him her family secrets and she had been worried about him. It sounded so perfect that he knew he had to say no. Something was up and he couldn't think straight as far as his dream was concerned.

"So you want to feed secrets to your future rival?" she said awkwardly, trying to hide his uncertainty.

"You're not my rival; I'm going to be a sushi chef remember?"

"Yeah…" he said staring into her eyes intently.

"I just figured, since you don't have an oven at home and all that maybe it could be fun… if you don't want to then it doesn't matter to me. You taught me how to make tamago so I thought I could teach you something too…"she said, helping the funny feeling in his chest grow as she shyly tried to hide the desire to spend time with him behind some kind of exchange, something else she can attribute to just wanting to follow her dream.

"When will your dad be closing up?" he asked trying to hide his excitement.

"Around 4… so why don't you come over a little while after school? He and mom said they wanted to take Natsume out for dinner afterward because his grades have been so good so he shouldn't be back for awhile."

"And you don't want to go celebrate your adorable little brother?" Hayato asked raising an eyebrow.

"Of coarse I do, but I can take him out on my own."

"Okay, I'll be there by 4:30 and I'll bring you something special."


End file.
